This year's Black Friday sales were off to a good start in America, but some say the long-term future of the US retail sector may not look so promising. CGTN's DAN WILLIAMS reports from Chicago.  

For retailers, the holiday season is the year's biggest shopping season. This mall expects brisk trade over the next few weeks. But other malls have less reason to celebrate. This one recently lost its so-called "anchor tenant", a department store, to bankruptcy. That trend has been seen across the U.S. with more than 10,000 stores closing in the last two years, as online sales continue to rise.

STACY NEIER BERAN QUINLAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, LOYOLA UNIV. "Product is not enough. Product is simply not enough for driving consumers through the doors. The whole role of a store is changing. And so, because product is not enough, retailers who own brick and mortar space must provide an experience."

DAN WILLIAMS CHICAGO "With so many stores and shopping malls closing their doors for a final time, the outlook for brick and mortar retail would appear to be bleak. But here on Chicago's Magnificent Mile, the city's premier shopping district there are few signs of a slowdown."

Katie Lindsay Walsh is the marketing manager of a mall on Chicago's so-called "Magnificent Mile"-the city's most expensive shopping boulevard. Walsh says the focus in recent years has been on providing shoppers with an original experience.

KATIE LINDSAY WALSH SR. MARKETING MNGR, THE SHOPS AT NORTH BRIDGE "We've really partnered with digitally native brands who have been sold online only, to work with them to bring their locations to the brick and mortar. The key is to really have an experience for our customers."

It is a similar theme at the Westfield Mall on the outskirts of Chicago. In recent years, the mall has focused on entertainment, not just shopping.

SERGE KHALIMSKY GENERAL MANAGER, WESTFIELD OLD ORCHARD "I think if you look twenty years in the future, it maybe more of you are coming to entertain yourself and a byproduct of that is trying on the latest and greatest or trying the new gadgets and shopping will be a byproduct of your entertainment reasoning to come to a center."

Paradoxically, the strain on retail comes at a time while the U.S. economy is strengthening- with low unemployment and rising wages. Yet, experts predict further strain on retailers is likely.

STACY NEIER BERAN QUINLAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, LOYOLA UNIV. "Boring retail is dead. There are probably going to be some casualties in that regard. I do believe that if brands don't become more responsive to workable innovations within the direct to consumer omnichannel retailing, that there will be more casualties."

U.S. retailers remain confident that shoppers will show up in force during this holiday season. The question is whether they will keep showing up in seasons to come.

Dan Williams, CGTN, Chicago.